Family of slain varsity student in Bayelsa wants justice

The dream of every parent is to train their children into becoming responsible citizens to care of them at their old age. But this was not to be for the Tyger family of Amassoma in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State whose 21-year-old son, Tariebi Tyger, a 200-level petrochemical engineering student of the Niger Delta University was cut down in his prime.

Vanguard Metro, VM, learnt the late Tariebi was brutally killed after he resisted an initiation into an unidentified cult group. Suspected cultists had last year almost turned the state owned institution into a breeding ground prompting its security department in collaboration with the police to dislodge them.

Tragedy, it was learnt, struck last December when an attempt to forcefully initiate late Tariebi into an unidentified cult group went awry.

Sadly, the deceased parents, who as police officers had in the past helped bust crimes and other social vices in the line of duty, were not on ground to save their beloved son from these messengers of death. The agony of bereavement was conspicuous on the face of Pa Lucky Daniel, the maternal grandfather of the deceased when he sauntered into Vanguard office last week to narrate what befell his family and the need for the police authorities to bring the killers of his grandson to justice.

*The late Tariebi Tyger…murdered and his body thrown into a river

He noted with sadness that his grandson, whose father is from Amassoma and mother from Otuan, met his tragic end at Otuan, his maternal community, in the hands of persons who could have been his refuge.

VM learnt that trouble started when the deceased left his parents home in Yenagoa on December 10, 2012 to resume studies on campus at Amassoma after the flood provoked long vacation.

This, however, turned out to be the last time his parents and siblings would see him as he was reportedly abducted from his room at Amassoma by some suspected cultists. He was reportedly bundled to a house in Otuan on December 15, 2012 where he was murdered by the cultists who later threw his corpse into the river.

The cult group gruesomely murdered him, tied his legs with block sinkers and threw it into the river, it was learnt.

VM learnt that the scene of crime (the house) was located at the extreme of the riverside community and that there was a wake-keep on the fateful day at the other opposite extreme, making it easy for the perpetrators of the heinous act to execute their plan.

The parents, it was learnt, suspected a foul play few days after Tariebi left home following the unusual silence from his end after several attempts to reach him on his phone proved abortive, prompting them to search for him.

According to grandfather of the deceased: “His parents became worried and swung into action to locate him in his off campus residence at Amassoma. To their chagrin and utmost disappointment, they observed that the door of his room was broken but he was nowhere to be found.

“In their frantic efforts to locate their missing son, the parents contacted his erstwhile room-mate who was his closest associate at the time. He joined the parents as a sympathiser in the search”.

Pa Daniel who identified himself as the maternal grandfather of the deceased said the matter was later reported to the police.

He added: “As tension rose higher, the police arrested three boys, including the room mate who made confessional statements to the police. The cult ring leader, who happened to be the elder brother of one of the arrested suspects and who is now at large, is the only one that could give account of what happened to the deceased.”

Pa Daniel who failed to mention the names of the suspects and the identity of the cult leader, however, said the wealthy parents of the main suspects were making frantic moves to disrupt the cause of justice.

He said despite efforts by the parents to frustrate the matter through a court order, the younger brother of the ring leader confessed to the circumstances that led to the killing of his grandson.

He, however, said in spite of the confessional statements, the police had failed to compel the parents of the alleged killers to produce their children.

But the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Fidelis Odunna, said the police had arrested persons suspected to have taken part in the murder. He said the police will soon arraign the suspects.

“They forcefully took the boy from his room to initiate him into a cult and in the process, the boy passed out. They threw his corpse into the river. We are going arraign them very soon,” he said.